1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to water-based hydraulic fluids and metalworking compositions.
2. Prior Art
In the technology of hydraulic power transmission, mechanical power is imparted to a fluid called "a hydraulic fluid" in the form of pressure by means of a hydraulic pump. Power is utilized where desired by tapping a source of said hydraulic fluid and thus transforming the power as pressure back to mechanical motion by a mechanism called a hydraulic motor. The hydraulic fluid is utilized as a pressure and volume transmitting medium. Any non-compressible fluid can perform this function. Water is the oldest fluid used for this purpose and is still sometimes used alone for this purpose. In the prior art, there has been a heavy emphasis on the development of petroleum oils for use as hydraulic fluids and, consequently, much of the equipment utilized with hydraulic fluids has been designed and manufactured specifically for use with petroleum oils. A petroleum oil in comparison with water as a hydraulic fluid possesses the advantage of inhibiting the development of rust of the ferrous components of the mechanical equipment utilized in conjunction with hydraulic fluids, (i.e., hydraulic pumps, motors, etc.) and in preventing wear of the machinery since the hydraulic fluid must lubricate the equipment. Petroleum oils have a second advantage over the use of water as a hydraulic fluid in that the petroleum oils normally exhibit a substantially higher viscosity than water and thus contribute to reduction of the leakage of the fluid in the mechanical equipment utilized. In addition, the technology relating to additives for petroleum oils has developed to such an extent that the viscosity, foam stability, wear prevention and corrosion prevention properties of such petroleum oil based hydraulic fluids can be further enhanced by the use of said additives.
Over the past 25 years, various substitutes for petroleum oil base hydraulic fluids have been developed in order to overcome one of the major deficiencies of petroleum oils, namely, flammability. Recent interest in the use of hydraulic fluids having up to 99 percent or more of water has resulted from the higher cost of petroleum oils and recent emphasis on problems of ecologically suitable disposal of contaminated or spent petroleum oil based hydraulic fluids.
Metalworking fluids of the so-called "soluble oil" type have been considered for use as hydraulic fluids. Such fluids contain mineral oil and emulsifiers as well as various additives to increase corrosion resistance and improve antiwear and defoaming properties. Such fluids when used as hydraulic fluids are not generally suitable for use in ordinary industrial equipment designed specifically for use with the petroleum oil based hydraulic fluids since such fluids do not adequately prevent wear damage in pumps and valves of such equipment. However, such fluids have found application in specially designed, high cost, large size equipment which, because of said large size and thus inflexibility, is not suitable for use in most industrial plants. The soluble oil hydraulic fluid usage has thus been quite limited; usage has been largely confined to large installations where flexibility and size are not critical such as in steel mills.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,538 to prepare an aqueous lubricant concentrate and lubricating composition consisting essentially of molybdenum disulfide and a water-soluble viscosity increasing agent such as polyvinyl alcohol and an emulsifiable mineral oil. It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,569 to prepare aqueous lubricating compositions containing a water-soluble mixed ester obtained by transesterification of a polyoxyethylene glycol and a triglyceride.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,658 that a mixture of a phosphate ester and a sulfur compound can be used in a water-based metalworking composition to obtain extreme pressure, antiwear and corrosion inhibiting properties. Such additives are used with a suitable vehicle such as mineral oil, vegetable oil, aliphatic acid ester, etc. The sulfur compounds disclosed are not sulfurized molybdenum compounds but rather are derivatives of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole. The phosphate esters of the invention, however, are similar to those disclosed in this reference. These are alkylene oxide derivatives of an alkyl, aryl or arylalkyl phosphate which are useful in the form of the free acid or in the neutralized for wherein the phosphate ester is neutralized with a metal hydroxide or carbonate, ammonia or an amine. The use of these phosphate esters in water-based metalworking fluids is suggested in ASLE Transactions 7, pages 398 to 405, at page 405.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,151,099 and 4,138,346 to prepare water-based hydraulic fluids and metalworking lubricants. These hydraulic fluids which contain a phosphate ester and a sulfur compound or alternatively a phosphate ester, a sulfur compound and a water-soluble polyoxyethylated aliphatic ester are optionally thickened with a polyglycol thickener but there is no suggestion in these references, or in any of the references above, that such fluids can be provided by the utilization of an alpha-olefin epoxide-modified polyether polyol thickener which reacts synergistically with certain components of the hydraulic fluid, particularly the phosphate ester or the phosphate ester and amine components to provide greatly increased viscosity in the resultant fluids.